But reconstruction of the railway line, stations and bridges will not be easy, as Angola is still Africa's most densely mined country.

And, with the mining problem added to natural obstacles, such as numerous collapsed ravines in its path, the task is colossal.

Mine devastation

Mines have proven to be a huge problem for the reconstruction plans.

British engineering was at the heart of the Benguela Railway

The Halo Trust, a mine clearance organisation, has concentrated its work in Angola in the Planalto province of Bie, Huambo and Benguela.

These provinces form the corridor along which the Benguela Railway runs.

During the war years, the MPLA Government and supporting Cuban armed forces laid mapped defensive minefields around key installations and the civil infrastructure along the route of the line.

The Unita rebels also mined roads and approaches to their strategic bases.

After the 1992 country-wide elections were repudiated by Unita, they resumed the war against the MPLA government.

It was then that the two sides randomly scattered mines in the fight for provincial capitals.

The legacy of such haphazard actions is a long and painstaking de-mining programme. This has inevitably slowed down the process of opening the rail-line.

Tired tracks

Currently, the rail-line is open and running along two lengths.

Hundreds of miles of Angola's roads are still mined

One runs from the port of Lobito through to Benguela on the Atlantic coast and the other runs from Huambo to Caala in the central planalto region.

But that still leaves 1220 kilometres (763 miles) of track and numerous stations in need of vital investment.

It is in Huambo that the state of the current railway can be appreciated.

Around six o'clock each morning, the long low hoot of the locomotive's horn and the grinding of steel wheels on rusted track can be heard above the sparse noise of city life.

In the sidings of the Huambo railway station, the ghosts of former workers linger amongst the decaying steam engines, most of which carry British plates of manufacture, but, for many years, no passengers.

The former workers brick built houses, clinics and social clubs still stand in their faded pastel colours, reflecting the jaded state of the railway's prosperity.

Loading bays for maize, cotton, cattle and coffee lay silent too.

Just the scuttle of the odd rat or cat is heard by the solitary guard who's eyes are scanning dormant engines that no-one could steal even if they wanted.

Friends in high places

But some Sundays the railway comes alive.

Whole families can regularly be seen on bikes

The carriages burst at the seams on the 46 kilometre (29 mile) journey from Huambo to Caala.

Angola is predominantly Christian, and the congregation of Huambo's Roman Catholic Church make a not infrequent journey to sing their praises heavenward in front of Caala station.

Then, after the train returns from Calenga, a further 19 kilometres (12 miles) down the line, they return to Huambo.

But it may be a long time before their Christian massage can get much further up the line nearer to the Angolan eastern border.